Seattle’s defense opened the season with a good showing against the Colts, but they have not been as effective the last two weeks as they were in Week One.
The Titans scored 24 points after halftime of their Week Two overtime win and the Vikings scored six of the first seven times they had the ball in Sunday’s 30-17 victory. The Vikings converted 9-of-14 third downs in that win and Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll said on Monday that “we’re in a little bit of a spell here where we haven’t gotten the football away from our opponents enough.”
One way to remedy that would be to pressure opposing quarterbacks into mistakes. Carroll said that’s an area where the Seahawks need to be better if they’re going to halt their losing streak.
“We need more,” Carroll said, via the team’s website. “We need to be more effective. We have not disrupted the quarterback. That shows you in terms of turnovers and us being able to get after that football. It starts there. Our guys are working it. They’re busting their tails to get it. We just need to work together. I think the whole thing just needs to work together tighter. We caused some holding on the football at the quarterback’s point and sometimes we’d disrupt. It just needs to work together more effectively and we’re working for that.”
Carroll said this year’s start “feels a little bit the same” as last year. The defense did struggle early last season, but they still produced turnovers at a healthy clip and the extra chances helped them open with five straight wins. That would be a good part of last year’s start for the Seahawks to mimic moving forward.